Quinn pardons 126, including 1 of Dixmoor Five

Robert Taylor, a member of the Dixmoor Five, was one of 126 people granted executive clemency Wednesday by departing Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. Taylor is shown with his daughter, Amir, in 2012.

Robert Taylor, a member of the Dixmoor Five, was one of 126 people granted executive clemency Wednesday by departing Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. Taylor is shown with his daughter, Amir, in 2012. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)

Gov. Pat Quinn granted executive clemency to 126 people Wednesday, among them a man who was cleared of murder along with four others known as the Dixmoor Five but still faced a felony record for skipping out on bond during his trial.

Quinn also denied 185 clemency petitions as he continues to go through a backlog of more than 2,500 cases that built up during the tenure of his predecessor, imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The Dixmoor Five was a group of teenagers who were imprisoned for the 1991 rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in the south suburbs but had their convictions vacated after DNA evidence in 2011 linked another man to the crime.

Robert Taylor, who was released from Stateville Correctional Center on Nov. 3, 2011, had skipped out on his bond during the closing days of his 1997 trial. He was convicted in absentia of murder, and when he was arrested two months later pleaded guilty to violating his bond — a felony.

Though Taylor was released from prison and was formally exonerated on the murder charge in 2012 by a Cook County judge, his bond violation stood. That year, he applied for executive clemency, a pardon, with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.

The request was opposed by Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who argued the bond issue was separate from whether Taylor committed the crimes for which he was being tried.

Joshua Tepfer, an attorney with the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth who represented Taylor, said Quinn's pardon Wednesday was "a great moment." Tepfer said it was important to erase the conviction from Taylor's record because it was the direct result of him fleeing prosecution for a crime he didn't commit.

"If there was ever a reasonable excuse for violating the law, this is it," Tepfer said. "This is why the power (of pardon) exists, and we're extraordinarily grateful that Gov. Quinn took this action."

Tepfer said he called Taylor and could feel his "enormous smile. I could feel it through the phone."

"We didn't talk for very long," Tepfer said. "He was with his family. He said he was going to kiss his boy and enjoy the day, and it was a nice way to go into Thanksgiving."

When Taylor applies for a job, he can now say he doesn't have a conviction on his record, said Tepfer.

Quinn's office said the petitions acted upon Wednesday are part of dockets that date as far back as 2005. Since taking office in 2009, Quinn has acted on 3,358 clemency requests, granting 1,239 and denying 2,119.

Quinn's office said each person granted clemency had undergone a recent criminal background check. A granted clemency request for a pardon with expungement allows the petitioner to have their conviction expunged through the court system.